Get Stuff We Love

"I wouldn't call (these items) publicity stunts, because I don't think anyone would manufacture an item specifically for a publicity stunt," fashion trends analyst Charcy Evers told TODAY Style. "I think what it really is, is a trend taken too far. This season in particular is all about revamped denim — taking your average blue jean to the next level through embellishment, embroidery, florals, patches, two-tone and a lot of this cropped and frayed look."

So perhaps these befuddling jeans are just that: the product of designers’ desire to take a trend and put a new spin on it. Fashion writer Kaarin Vembar pointed out that there actually is some precedent for the styles.

“Some people who are really into getting a specific look on their jeans will bury them,” she told TODAY Style. “This gives a specific color or wash to the jeans via dirt or rain or mud. Thus, mud jeans.”

There are countless online tutorials that teach us how to shred, bleach or otherwise destroy a pair of perfectly good jeans. Perhaps mud isn’t so different?

There's also another theory in play here: that in the age of flaunting clothes on social media, the more extreme, the better. That goes for not just jeans, but other wacky products retailers have been peddling lately — from Gucci’s sock sandals to this rock wrapped in leather, both sold by Nordstrom.

Topshop declined to comment when TODAY asked for details about the sales of the clear panel jeans and the clear jeans. Nordstrom has yet to respond to TODAY’s requests for comment.

At the end of the day, experts say it doesn’t matter what the retailers’ intentions were originally. It’s clear they achieved at least one thing. “It gets everyone talking,” Sozzi said. “And gets people visiting a website where they may end up buying something else. All in all, winning.”